Just a comment on ‘The myth of the Christian Peace-maker’ The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw this, was Mat 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. It goes on in verse 35 to say “For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother” etc, and causes me to wonder what sort of ‘peace’ are we considering here – Physical? Social? Political? Spiritual?? – And peace, as opposed to……..what? War? Unrest? Tension?

John 21:25 – “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written”. On this website, and many others, there exist many proofs or reasons for God’s existence and refutations of non-believers. We are given many reasons to believe. If they and all the arguments for God in all the libraries and bookshops of the world, and from all the private libraries and bookshelves, and from all the websites of the world, were written down and put… Read more »

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20th May 2015 10:30 pm

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Agios Dimitrios

Beauty is in the mind of God. He had beauty in mind when he created all things – that is clearly one aspect of saying “And it was very good”.

Beauty is in mind when he restores things like withered limbs, a raging sea, a desolate landscape, a broken person.

And beauty is in mind when he recreates reality in the new heavens and the new earth.

Like your reply Agios, particularly the part about beauty being in the mind of God when he recreates reality in the new heavens and the new earth. Very evocative. The point of my clumsy post, Agios, was to try and say something about the “Argument from Beauty” for God’s existence. Which I feel is largely ignored on this website and on the internet in general. It’s an argument, I believe, is not only the easiest to make but also the most persuasive. Possibly the reason why many ancient peoples (such as the Australian Aborigine) came to believe in a divine… Read more »

Here’s a quote from a famous Christian, which I have always thought inspiring. A quote from Martin Lurther –

“Christ is an astounding king, who instead of defending his people, deserts them. Whom he would save, he must first make a despairing sinner. Whom he would make wise, he must first make into a fool. Whom he would make alive, he must first kill. Whom he would bring to honour, he must first bring into dishonour. He is a strange king who is nearest when he is far and farthest when he is near”.

In the Article – The New Atheism and Five Arguments for God – William Lane Craig examines “five traditional arguments for the existence of God in light of modern philosophy, science, and mathematics” and trusts that “enough has been said here to show that the traditional theistic arguments remain unscathed by the objections raised by the likes of New Atheists such as Richard Dawkins”. My personal favourite of these is the ontological argument, but in the light of Richard Dawkins’ hinge point to “the central argument of my book”, that is his point “4)The most ingenious and powerful explanation is… Read more »

From the quote section, I really liked this quote – “Our mind-set has been lulled by the religious spirit, making us want to run from the person being slandered instead of finding the truth and joining with them to bring about divine change on the earth…” (Roberts Liardon, p129 God’s Generals II, Whittaker House, New Kensington, 2003. The message of “finding the truth and joining with them to bring about divine change” is a very powerful one, I believe.

Not sure whether it is ‘divine’ change Peter. The religious spirit may have other motives, such as false humility, pragmatism for the sake of the church etc. The sentiment however, when driven by the spirit of God, is indeed powerful. I think Christians can achieve that, with God’s help.

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16th April 2015 8:56 am

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Maddoc06

This is surprisingly frank. It outlines some of the dangers of institutional church very clearly, but it also outlines how a degree of change can occur when the Holy Spirit works through non-leaders to convict the leadership of mistakes being made. It also demonstrates some positives that happen when leadership is inclined to listen. And therein lies the problem – leadership structures do matter in churches because they can restrict and discourage those who by nature are free from relating directly to the living Lord. “Institutional” leadership is almost always just as much an impediment than a help in my… Read more »

Sadly, it is not an infrequent experience of Christians to experience and witness first-hand the destructiveness and bondage from their church leaders who exercise pervasive control out of fear and paranoia. These leaders may be well-meaning but are themselves misled. They are often individuals who project themselves as being mature Christians with firm orthodox doctrines and ‘impeccable’ church life and activity. Their congregation becomes complicit in perpetuating this myth of their leaders being super-Christians by reciprocating admiration of them (whom they seek to ‘model’) and affirming them by re-election. They exhibit passive if not proactive willingness to tolerate their leaders’… Read more »

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22nd August 2011 2:41 pm

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Maddoc

Shucks! I’ll have to review his earlier book now “The Physics of Immortality”.

You may find the following link helpful: http://www.josephus.org/home.htm#Testimonium.
The author has been thorough in his analysis of the literary works of Josephus. A helpful apologetic resource for those who seeking early non-Christian, extra-biblical corroboration of the historicity of the bible.

I’d like to contribute a book review on “The Physics of Christianity” by Frank Tipler

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5th August 2011 9:48 pm

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Agios Dimitrios

I think this link should be added to the Links page. I find it appalling that extra-jusidical punishments can be handed out like this but it reflects a lack of freedom in China. I believe freedom is a value that reflects the Kingdom of God. God chooses us. We choose Jesus. ‘Choosing’ is not real unless one is free to not choose. A lack of freedom to choose leads to societies that oppress those who vary from the values and norms of the elites that run them. Freedom is the inherent strength and weakness of Western countries – but they… Read more »

You may find the following news of interest July 2011 Chinese House Church Alliance deputy sentenced to labour camp The deputy chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance has been sentenced to two years in a labour camp for organising unregistered church (“house church”) gatherings. Pastor Shi Enhao was sentenced to “re-education through labour”, which is an extra-judicial punishment handed out by the police that requires no trial or conviction of a crime. The charge against Pastor Shi is “illegal meetings and illegal organising of venues for religious meetings.” It relates to his large house church of several thousand members,… Read more »

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3rd August 2011 11:05 am

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editor

I’ve taken the liberty gentlemen (or maybe ladies?) to move these posts onto the Review page for Adam’s Curse. Any other posts are very welcome.

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1st August 2011 4:00 am

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Agios Dimitrios

I really appreciate this Post aristotleO. It seems to me that it is a very good thing for scientists like Sykes to ask the question “Could all this be explainable by genetics?”. That is the essence of the rational mind that looks to understand things, not simply to accept them, but perhaps to use them to make things better. I think that is what the Greeks gave us which is one of the core foundations of Western Civilization and it’s technological scientific distinctives compared to other civilizations. However, that approach by Sykes can make the rational scientific explanation become a… Read more »

Regarding Adam’s Curse by Bryan Sykes. It would appear that essentially he holds to a materialistic and naturalistic perspective of human behaviour and morality, that is, homosexuality and altruism are ultimately determined by genetics. To what extent does he attribute human behaviour and cognition to genetic determinism? Like Sykes, it is a common naturalistic position (i.e. Darwinian evolution) to view morality as a means to enable survival or flourishing of the species. Many atheists therefore hold to this position: The position of the modern evolutionist . . . is that humans have an awareness of morality . . . because… Read more »

hmm … Sprung Editor! Repent and stop watching The Life of Brian. A clear instance that the electronic media turns men into naughty boys.

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2nd May 2011 11:13 am

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peevedwife

Dear Editor,
I’ve just discovered what you have been spending your time doing. You are not the Messiah, you are just a very naughty boy. Stop offending good honest Christian folk and do something useful.

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5th April 2011 11:49 pm

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Agios Dimitrios

I’d like to share the only Christian joke I know.

Q. What game will we be playing in heaven?

A. The only game the Bible mentions in the new Age is cricket. It says that on the day of Pentecost “Peter went out with the eleven and was bo(w)l(e)d.”

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5th April 2011 9:53 am

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Agios Dimitrios

Nothing as profound as that but can I send some Bible passages I’ve been looking at?